COVID-19 In Animals

According to news reports - [news.yahoo.com and livescience.com] A 4-year-old tiger named Nadia at the Bronx Zoo in New York City has tested positive for COVID-19. Also, six big cats (3 tigers - 3 lions) at the zoo have the same dry cough as Nadia, and while these six have not yet been tested, the zoo is assuming, due to their symptoms, they were also infected with the virus that causes COVID-19. A zoo caretaker with COVID-19 likely infected the cats before he or she developed any symptoms of the disease.

After hearing this, my first thought was, if a human can pass COVID-19 to lions and tigers, why can't a human pass the virus to a domestic cat or dog?

The Yahoo news report on the Bronx Zoo big cats goes on to say that there have been a handful of reports outside the U.S. of pet dogs or cats becoming infected after close contact with contagious people, including a dog in Hong Kong that tested positive for a low level of the pathogen in February and early March.

In March, Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, in a news release, said "There is currently no evidence that pet animals can be a source of infection of COVID-19 or that they become sick" and pet cats and dogs cannot pass the new coronavirus on to humans, but they can test positive for low levels of the pathogen if they catch it from their owners.

Here we have documented cases of humans passing the virus to tigers, lions, domestic cats and dogs, yet we are to believe the virus cannot be passed the other way - from pets to pet owners.

Obviously, there is much we do not know about the virus. We can't jump to any conclusions, but this is worth looking into.